If you live anywhere near the school campus, you might have noticed the thump of bass and snare drums or the blaring of wind instruments over the last week and-a half. That’s because the Trigg County High School Band has been hard at work learning their music for this year’s marching show.

Band camp started on July 23 and will finish on Friday. This week, students will be practicing on the school campus from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., but the public is invited to view their progress in the middle school parking lot at six o’clock on Aug. 3. Afterwards, the Band Boosters will host a picnic, band director Andrew Mroch said.

This year’s show is called, “Counterpoint.” It features three movements: “Toccata,” “Ayre,” and “Fugue.” Mroch said it is kind of a modern version of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue.”

“It’s a new twist on something old,” Mroch said.

It is a similar approach to the one Mroch took last year when the band’s marching show was “Five,” featuring variations on Ludwig Van Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony.” The composer is even the same: Michael Pote, director of Carmel High School in Indianapolis, who won the national marching band championship in 2005. Mroch said Pote has written the music for Trigg County’s show for several years and that he writes for about eight other schools as well.

Last Wednesday afternoon, Mroch said the camp had gotten off to a great start this year. He said that the students’ attitudes have been great and that they even had perfect attendance for those first three days (likely more by the time of this publication). Mroch said that with some high school band programs, it’s just fun time all the time and that others work the students so hard, they’re not likely to have a good time at all.

“We try to hit the right balance,” Mroch said. “Some even get here before rehearsal to hang out.”

Considering that “before rehearsal” means before eight o’clock in the morning, that is pretty impressive.

Jamie Kelly is this year’s drum major. She said she has been adjusting to her position pretty well, thanks to her band mates.

“They’ve made it real easy on me,” she said. “I was kind of scared coming in.”